


358 Days With You

by Catch358



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Action & Romance, Co-workers, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Magical Realism, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2019-08-02 15:12:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16307561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catch358/pseuds/Catch358
Summary: Roxas is a servant to the Organization who travels to many worlds in search of heartless, meanwhile Xion is an ordinary girl who lives a mundane life in Twilight Town. A boy who feels nothing and a girl who feels everything. What happens when their worlds collide and their fates intertwine?





	1. Day in the Life

Thin wisps of steam fumed from the bowl of ramen. A plastic fork stabbed the noodles, twirling in the typhoon of broth in order to comb through the vegetables.

Xion let out a sigh. "What? Don't look at me like that, the vegetables taste gross." Across from the kitchen table was a fat, smoky gray cat sitting in the chair with a watchful eye. Xion affectionately named him Smudge for the mud brown patch on its butt when she first found him abandoned on the street all those years ago.

Smudge emitted a low purr, staring at Xion as she slurped up the ramen, eventually Xion put her fork down and rested her cheek in her hand. "Fine, you win, I'll eat some of the carrots at least."

The gray stepped on the table towards Xion where caressed his fur. "You know, you're a very judgmental cat." She stood up, then walked over a few feet to her 'bedroom' and checked herself out in the mirror. Her apartment was just one room after all, a studio apartment her landlord loved to call it, with only the bathroom deserving separation.

Xion looked at her reflection up and down, tightening her black tie and tidying her school uniform so it didn't look it she _just_ rolled out of bed. She took a comb and went through her short, black hair. Admittedly, it was a boyish cut, but she thought it always suited her well, and she didn't have to waste time brushing down super long hair everyday.

"Another day at school," She said to her reflection. "Then after that another day at work again and again and...no, what am I saying. I sound so sorry for myself. I should at least plan to do one thing fun for myself, maybe the beach..."

She picked up her apartment keys and school bag, then after double locking the apartment door began to doubt herself. "No, everyone from my school is gonna be at the beach and who am I gonna be with, my cat?"

Xion flew down the flight metal steps and ran across the street to the bike rack where her pale blue, vintage bike rested. "But a bike ride down sunset terrace sounds nice and maybe afterwards I'll have lunch by the seaside." She began peddling down the street. "That doesn't sound too bad actually!"

' _Even if it is just me.'_

Twilight Town was an average town, there were brick buildings, wooden houses, local shops and a painfully slow tram that connected all the locales and various districts. Beyond the town was a sparkling ocean that reached as far as one could imagine. It would truly be an unremarkable place if not for one thing that set it apart from so many places and so many worlds; the sun never set.

True to its name, the town was forever in everlasting twilight, never experiencing the stillness of night or the vibrancy of daybreak. The sun stood at a standstill, stationed just barely above the horizon, giving the world a beautiful, creamy orange haze and a calm atmosphere to match. Sure, Xion knew of other worlds with a more dynamic sky where the light of other worlds twinkled at night and the sky was blue, and the world was bright, but Twilight Town was all she ever knew, it was her town, her small world.

School was around a ten minute bike ride from the apartment complex, five if she was running late and cut through the creepy forest by the old mansion. Today, luckily wasn't one of those days and she sped down Station Heights street, with the school within reach.

Xion stared out at the wide stretch of flat land between the tram commons and the secluded area that encompassed the school. "Hm, doesn't look those black creatures here today I guess." _'Maybe they aren't even real after all.'_ She wondered as she pedaled faster towards the school.

Finally, she reached her school; Twilight West High, a sizeable high school, at least compared to Twilight East, with nothing particularly standout about it. Their own struggle team barely lasted throughout the season...although the status of their sports team was the last thing on her mind as she pushed her bike into the rack and made her way down the courtyard. No, it definitely had to be Mr. Vexen's chemistry test that slipped her mind as she was marathoning her favorite show (Dead Beat Town) a fifth time over.

"—Hey Xiooon!" She felt a hand slap her on the shoulder. It was Hayner, local attitude with unkempt hair, a freckled face, and a tie-less school uniform. "Man, you don't look so good right now."

"Really? Is it that noticeable?" She rubbed the back of her head. "I'm just a little bit worried about Mr. Vexen's test, that's all."

She watched as Hayner's carefree, cheerful expression, sink into the same anxiety stricken, pale face Xion had. "Th-That's today?" He croaked. "I thought it was tomorrow...what is it over?!"

"Uhh, magical properties and naming elements from the periodic table."

"Aw man, thanks for telling me, good thing it's my last hour."

"Well it's literally my second hour so that's why I look like death right now...but I guess Pence and Olette already got the memo."

"Yeah, I was wondering why they were going to school early, but those early hour cram sessions never helped me anyway."

Xion smirked. "Not to someone who's probably half asleep in class everyday."

"What? Am not, at least not everyday...ugh. That's why we have homeroom, to do all the stuff we were supposed to do last night!"

"True, but your homeroom teacher is Ms. Larxene, right? I can't believe she doesn't try to like torture her students!"

"That's 'cause she's always asleep, it's the calm before the storm. Pray for me that Ms. Larxene doesn't try to bite my head off next hour, though."

"Ha, I think we all need a prayer session before her class!"

"Tell me about it...well, I'll see you later."

"Mm hm."

The two parted ways from each other to separate ends of the school.

Xion trekked up the stairs to reach her homeroom class with the elegant Mr. Marluxia; an odd man with a pretty face to compensate. He wore an all black suit with black gloves that highlighted his thin frame, a near unremarkable presentation, save for his pastel pink hair that flowed down to his back.

Being so devilishly handsome, all the girls clustered around his desk to chatter away and make jokes with him, making the boys madly jealous of him. It didn't help he was also one of the school's cheerleading coach and tennis coach on the off season, so everyday he'd received a mountain of love letters and death threats that piled high on his desk and after the day ended, the mountain would move into the recycling bin. He'd always made a point to read each one, the contents ranging from marriage to getting pushed off a cliff. Today, Marluxia tediously cut the letters he received into small pieces so there would be more room in the recycling bin for once.

After the bell rang, Marluxia put down his scissors and stood up in front of the class with the intentions of an announcement. He greeted everyone with a slight bow, then cleared his throat. "Greetings class, I don't usually make a big show of these things, but Head Master Ansem requested that we teachers speak about the situation that happened last Friday."

He continued. "To put it simply, don't make a fool out of yourself and use magic in the bathroom or on school property without explicit permission from your superiors. There's cameras all over this building and you _will_ get caught. That is all."

' _So the rumors were true, Seifer really was doing it in the bathroom.'_ Xion chewed on the eraser of her pencil then tapped it on her chemistry study guide. ' _Not that it's surprising, guess I won't be seeing him in class today.'_

"—Ahem! Hey guys listen up!" Announced a curly white haired student who recently entered the class, several other preppy, way-too-excited-to-be-here students surrounded him. Marluxia shushed his class down while the students who weren't already drooling on their desks, lifted their heads in acknowledgement, meanwhile Xion remained dedicated to staring blankly at the study guide.

"Next week is gonna be the start of homecoming spirit week, ending out with a Friday night struggle game and the hoco dance on Saturday! Make sure you guys dress up and support our team against our longstanding rivals with Twilight East. See ya guys there!"

The students representing the school's own student council were met with blank stares and a cough from everyone in the class, Marluxia uttered a flat, "Thank you." And they were off on their way to left to reiterate the same speech to another homeroom class.

Xion had a brief fascination with becoming so involved with school activities, going to games, dressing up in her best for a dance, like a normal high schooler, but whenever she remembered her utter lack of a social circle, those dreams were soon dashed away. What did she owe this school anything, but lunch money and good grades. Which she wasn't even sure she could do that much if the study guide was going to be written in the same, incomprensible foreign language as the test.

*ring-ring

"There's the bell, have a nice rest of the day everyone and I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Bye Marluxia~" The girls cooed as they left homeroom sticking together like glue.

Xion dragged her feet out of homeroom and down the crowded hallways, soon ending up at room 400; Vexen's dreaded classroom-lab hybrid. She pushed the door open to see a few students last minute cramming while everyone else flocked around Vexen's desk like flies to light, hoping if they pestered them enough he'd crack eventually and make the test open notes.

Plopping her backpack on the long, black lab table, reeking of distilled magic and chemicals, Xion opened up her notebook to go over her notes a last time only for Vexen to stand up from his desk with a thick stack of test paper in his arm.

"I want nothing on your desk except for a pencil and calculator." Vexen said. He prowled around the classroom, taking delight in seeing his student's faces slowly drain of color when he placed the test packet on their tables.

When it was Xion's turn to get her test, she confidently wrote her name in the blank, then considered her life choices when she saw question 1...

With the ringing of the school's dismissal bell still fresh in her memory, a pale blue, vintage bike with a red backpack wobbling in the little straw basket, sped down the street corner. Xion firmly grasped the handle bar in one hand while she ate a warm, fluffy roll in the other—her favorite bakery always made a fresh batch of bread after school ended.

"Ah, the ocean is straight ahead!" She pushed on the pedals and rolled past the cobblestone path onto the boardwalk where the city ended and the ocean began. It glowed and sparkled a vibrant orange as the waves slowly collided against each other. For a moment, just for a moment, all of her worries swept away under the current and she was brisked off to a world with no school, no work, no rent, only the warmth of twilight enveloping her body and the soothing wails of the ocean cries.

It was her, alone, the world she always knew it to be. It was light, weightless, free-falling. It was her slamming her head face first on the hard planks of the boardwalk as her body lay lopsided against another.

"Uuuuugh." Xion groaned, she got to her feet and wiped the dust particles off the folds of her skirt. "Why can't good things ever..." She trailed off when she saw a boy draped under a black coat lying unconscious on the ground with a bike skid mark stamped across his back.

"Oh god...did I run him over? It's not like I did it on purpose, I didn't even see him, there's no one even here right now, so..." She shook her head to clear away the ill thoughts clouding her mind. "That's not important."

Xion bent down and turned his body over, then began performing basic routine medical procedures she picked up from a TV show. She took out cure ointment and rubbed it around his face and body. ' _He's still breathing, that's good, and his heartbeat is in check.'_ Without giving much thought to it, she pushed away his disheveled, blonde bangs, her free hand soon caressing over the dried blood and scratch marks barred on his cheek.

' _Why is he here?'_

It was her first thought, not it had to be her last thought among the billions of others, but before she had a moment to think, the boy's eyes suddenly fluttered open and Xion quickly backed away, holding her guard up as the boy stood up to his feet.

The tattered black cloak fell down to his feet, revealing a thin body with only hints of a developing muscle mass. Scars and bruises were scattered across his torso, badges of combat, etching deep in some places more than others. It was a body that belonged to someone that was both feared and yet, always afraid, Xion thought, but the boy's soft, round face told an entirely different story. She wasn't scared of him, not at all, in fact it was the other way around. When Xion took a step closer, he took two steps backwards, timid, like a scared puppy, that's exactly what he reminded her of.

"Hey, what's your name?" Xion finally asked.

"I'm...Roxas!"

"And I'm Xion."

"Xion? Yeah, thanks for running me over with that bike by the way."

"Uh...sorry." Xion mumbled, embarrassment creeping up her throat. "I was kind of hoping you forgot that part," She said with a weak smile.

Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "Man, how could I. You hit my head pretty hard, I kind of forgot where I was."

"Twilight Town, guess that means you aren't from around here. Hm...well...uh..." She began stuttering, not sure if she wanted to put her thoughts into words, but it was kind of her fault he probably had head trauma or something like that. "If you need anywhere to stay, I wouldn't mind if you wanted to stay with me."

"Cool. Lead the way."

"Really? After I just...you know..."

He shrugged. "No where else to go."

"Right..." ' _That was a lot easier than I thought, hopefully he won't press charges.'_ "Let me just get my...my..." Xion frantically searched the boardwalk, a bike was a pretty hard thing to miss, and yet, her vintage, pale blue bicycle with the cute little woven basket and broken bell was nowhere to be found. She clenched her heart, then sunk to her knees.

"No, no, no, it's probably 50ft under by now..." She pounded her fist on the boardwalk. "Damn it!"

Roxas gawked at her miniature breakdown, unable to comprehend her feelings on any level so he just stood there, awkwardly. He glanced back at the vast ocean, then to Xion and eventually mustered up the gut to say something, "Hey," He rubbed the back of his neck. "Whatever happened to your bike, I sure am glad it's gone, haha ha!"

Xion shot Roxas daggers and he recoiled back in confusion. ' _That sure didn't cheer her up.'_ "Ok so, you just wanna go to your hideout or whatever?"

"Wait...My what?"

"Your hideout, like your base of operations, you know."

"Wait- wait," She let out a giggle. "You mean my home! Yeah, yeah, let's get going, it's getting late anyways."

"Really? Couldn't tell."

"Ha, you sound like a tourist. You can tell by the way the birds travel, they have an internal clock and when the birds are gone, then you know it's late."

"Or you could just use a clock."

"Sure, we _do_ have a giant clock tower."

The two walked off the boardwalk and down into the streets of the residential district. They garnered a few awkward stares from Roxas' lack of clothes, but no one from school spotted Xion with him and that's all she really cared about.

After a while, Xion slowed down a bit to match Roxas' rather leisurely pace and gave him a small, courteous smile.

"Soooo...I know you're not from around here, but where _were_ you from?"

"A castle. At least, that's as far back as I remember. Big, white, and it was in this city where it was always night time, place was pretty empty too. Probably 'cause there was only about six or seven of us there at any given time."

"Really?" Her eyebrow rose out of curiosity. "So how'd you get here?"

"Well..." He paused, hesitant to speak. "I was sent out here on a mission, but I got attacked by my target really bad."

"Oh," Xion said quietly. "Sorry, guess I kind of made it worse then, huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much, but don't sweat it. Getting hit by a bike is a lot better than internal bleeding."

"Right...so are you going back to that castle, no wait, your 'hideout'?"

"I'll have to eventually, I think. Not like it matters, I'm nobody to them, nothing at all."

"You have to mean something to them, why else would they send you here?"

"To get out of the way."

"Well, Roxas, aren't you upset about it?" Xion caught herself unintentionally raising her voice and so she muttered quietly, "At least a little?"

"No, should I be? I don't really feel anything, sadness, happiness, I do my job then I do it again."

"I know how that feels." A sigh escaped from her breath. "It's just me and my cat...so I really hope you're not allergic to them or anything 'cause then I'd totally have to kick you out!"

" _Me_ out? Gee, I see where your priorities are."

"He is my life and blood—Oh! Here it is!" Xion ran down to the apartment complex and then up the metal steps while Roxas stumbled behind her, careful not to trip up the steps. After fidgeting with her keys, she opened the apartment and Roxas was greeted with the distinct smell of old cat fur and sea-salt air freshener. They both walked into the meager, studio apartment together, slipping off their shoes as their feet shuffled across the fuzzy, white carpet.

Roxas eased himself into a gray armchair, marked with dozens of claw marks and tufts of fur, then rested his head on his hand. "So where's this stupid cat of yours?"

"No idea, he doesn't like strangers so he's probably hiding somewhere. Don't worry though, he'll pop out eventually," Xion said as she was gathering an armful of clothes. "In the meantime, help yourself if you're hungry!"

' _Seems like she's in a hurry, guess I shouldn't bother her and I am kind of hungry, so might as well.'_ He approached the kitchen and opened up a cupboard with about a dozen packages of cheap ramen in a variety of different flavors and he grabbed the extra spicy shrimp and egg flavor. Next to the cupboard was the fridge with slightly improved food diversity: a carton of milk, a package of half empty oven ready cookies, and a box of leftover pepperoni pizza. In the freezer section, there were a few TV dinners, but it was mostly packed tight with boxes of sea-salt ice cream.

' _She doesn't eat very healthy huh.'_ Roxas took out a slice of pizza and after plucking off the pepperoni, he ate it cold. Next, he filled a pot with water, placed it on the stovetop, then threw in the ramen cake. He tried turning on the oven, but all that emitted from the burner was a pathetic wisp of black smoke.

"Xiooooon! The stove won't turn on!" He yelled out.

"It runs on magic, there's fira in the cupboard below!" She yelled back.

Roxas chewed on the remaining pizza crust. _'It runs on magic? Last time I checked magic is for combat.'_ He took out a box of 'Premium Fira Magic—great for cooking and campfires!' and found a dozen small, red-orange, orbs wasting away in self contained capsules. "Whoa! This is so weird! Magic is manufactured in this world?!"

He pulled out a small compartment on the oven front labeled 'insert magic here' and dropped an orb into the compartment. Just like that, the stove stop burned with a ferocious fire that made this water nice and bubbly. As the ramen was cooking, he rummaged through the cupboard for other 'magic spells' it hid.

"There's some thunder magic, blizzzard magic, aero magic, oh—even some poison magic for rat repellent? I don't think I've ever been to a world so acclimated with magic, it reminds me of Hollow Bastion! And it smells like lunch is ready!"

Roxas took two plastic bowls from the cupboard and poured a share of ramen in each bowl. A few minutes in and he felt a menacing stare burn a hole through him. "...oh it's you, her cat. You look...nice."

"Mrow." The cat prowled around the table, glaring intently at the strange, blonde headed boy.

"You must be hungry, sorry, but that one is for Xion. You can have some of mine." Roxas lifted a noodle from his bowl and wavered it in front of the cat. "Kitty want food~" He chirped.

"Hissss!" The cat clamped down on his finger, then pounced on his face.

"Gaaaaah!" Roxas screamed. "Get this shitty cat off of me!"

"Roxas? Roxas!" Xion burst from the bathroom and peeled Smudge off of Roxas' face, she set him down on the floor, then began delicately stroking his fur until he was calmed down enough to retreat back into Xion's bed. Xion stood up with a look of apology on her face struggling to compete with her instinctive desire to laugh out loud in his face.

"Sorry about that," She said quietly.

"Hey just a few...dozen...more scratches to add to the collection. So what's with the dorky get up, going somewhere?"

"Dorky...oh you mean this," Xion pinched her white clip on tie with mini blue ice creams decorating it. Suiting the tie was a seafoam green button up shirt and a black hat with the sunset parlor logo plastered on the front. It was, by all accounts, dorky, but it never really registered in her mind until that word came out of his mouth.

"Yeah, guess so." She felt her face getting hot. ' _I'm going to be self conscious about this all day.'_ "Well, uh, I should get going. Since my bike is broken and everything, it'll take like 20 minutes for me to get to work."

"...where do you work?"

"At this ice cream shop, it's called the sunset parlor. You've seen it before?"

"Wait, is it a small brick building with that ice logo on the front. I think I know where it is."

"Cool, but that's not gonna help me much."

"No, watch this." Roxas stood up from the table and stood in center of the kitchen, a chilling sensation swept across the apartment. The type of feeling Xion got when it was late and she was in the middle of unlocking her apartment door, or whenever she stayed after for test corrections in Mr. Vexen's class.

Suddenly, a thin, veil of shadows coiled around Roxas' feet like snakes, wrapping around and extending across the floor. The shadows rose over Roxas' head, creating an oval shaped abyss, animate as much as it was hollow. Roxas flashed grinned, proud of his terrifying creation, and beckoning for Xion to come closer.

"What-what is that?"

"It's a dark corridor and it'll take you to your job immediately."

"I'm good, I think I rather take my chances walking."

"What seriously? Don't be scared by it. I won't let you get hurt in there and it'll only be like a few seconds until we're there."

"We barely know each other and now you're telling me to go into some creepy black hole so I can get to the place I hate even faster? Nothing against you or anything, but you must be out of your mind if you think I'm going in there."

"Fine, whatever. Let's take a hike, but at least let me come with you. Last place I want to be is cooped up here with your demon cat."

"Since you're coming with me, at least look decent. Here," She threw him a black sweatshirt with the words 'cats are better than people' in big, chunky letters across the front. Roxas begrudgingly pulled it over his head, then made his way to the door where Xion followed.

They went down the apartment stairs and made their way down the street. "One good thing about this place, it's never night time, so no creepy monsters can come eat you up!" Roxas exclaimed, attempting and failing to get a rise out of Xion.

"Right, 'creepy monsters' so scary," She rolled her eyes. "But can you tell me how it is...the night I mean."

"Weird...or maybe that's not the right word; mysterious? On a clear night, you can see the light of all the worlds, the stars."

Xion went quiet for a moment, then looked back up at Roxas, spellbound. "...You've probably been to all the different worlds out there and seen all sorts of places. I've only read about them and took tests over it, but you, you've lived it."

"Yeah, pretty much, maybe someday we can..." He stopped himself, then smirked. "Actuallly, you're about to find out why I go to so many different worlds. Stay back."

That same chilling sensation she felt in the apartment snaked down her spine as several small black portals dotted the ground and inky, black creatures with beady yellow eyes crawled out from the depths of darkness to the world of light; Heartless. Xion shrinked in fear, while Roxas beamed with confidence, he held his hand out and an oversized key manifested in his hand.

"Roxas...what's going on?! Why do you have a key in your hand and not I don't know...a knife or something?!" Xion shrieked.

"Watch this!" Roxas leapt high up in the air, then with deadly accuracy threw his keyblade like a spear at the swarm of heartless. The key impaled straight through three consecutive heartless and when he landed back on the ground, he called his keyblade back and slashed through three more.

"Roxas...um...over here!" Xion kicked the monsters that were getting dangerously close to her feet, only for them to get right back up and continue crawling towards her. Just when she thought she was surrounded, the keyblade circled around her and destroyed the shadows in one fell swoop.

All that remained of the heartless were tiny, fragile pink hearts that floated upwards into the twilight sky. Xion stood there, awestruck by the beauty that came from such vile creatures. "I-I get it now. Those black creatures I see in the distance...they _are_ real. This town just got interesting."

"Think so?" Roxas tapped his keyblade on the ground to get rid of the black substance that remained as mere memories of the battle. The key disappeared in his hand and he approached Xion, grinning. "So did you see me? Pretty cool, right?"

"Huh? Sorry, must of missed all of that. Being terrified for my life and everything."

Roxas pushed on her shoulder. "You're lying."

Xion pushed back. "And you're a show off," She shook her head. "But I'll admit, that was pretty cool."

He smiled. "Oh...about your job. When do you have to go there?"

"Good question," Xion took out her phone and checked the time. "Five minutes." She said with a peaceful smile.

The two sprinted down the street, blazing past corners and the occasional old lady walking by. Never missing a beat until they eventually collapsed in the parking lot of sunset parlor.

"...hah...hah...we're here..." Roxas rose to his feet. "Maaan...I still hate running."

"Even with your...hah...superhuman powers." Xion rested her hands on her knees. "What happened to all that fancy jumping and backflips?"

"With wherever my patience went. Ready?"

They dragged their feet across the asphalt, on the sidewalk, then finally onto the freshly mopped, white tiled floor of the parlor. The store was bright and white, very corporate looking, behind the creamy granite counter was a stainless steel working environment. Employees were rushing around with packages of ice cream cones, sweeping up wasted toppings, wiping off vanilla ice cream remains that landed on their black aprons. The only worker who didn't seem to be completely losing their mind (on the outside at least) was the young woman working at the front counter with a clunky headset on.

Xion approached the counter while Roxas stayed behind in one of the cherry red leather booths. "Hey Tifa, looks pretty busy tonight."

"Yeah, there's like a special going on or something, but more importantly, who's that?"

Xion stood in front of Tifa. "Who's who?"

Tifa smiled. "You know, that guy in the booth who came in with you."

"What guy?"

Tifa rested her arms on the counter, she was by all accounts a young adult; mature, paid for her own taxes, able to use magic recreationally, however, that didn't stop Tifa from being a little playful when she needed to be. "Xion, here, I think there's something on your..." She pushed Xion's head down on the counter, then waved to Roxas. "Hey you, c'mere! Welcome to Sunset Parlor!"

' _Please don't come, please don't come!'_

Roxas stood beside Xion at the counter.

' _Great_ _!'_

"You must be one of Xion's friends, how come I've never seen you around here before?"

"His name is Roxas and he just moved here. Great now you know everything about him, so no more questions!" Xion blurted out.

"Come on, just one more. Roxas, would you be interested in getting a job here? We need all the help we can get as you can see."

"Sure, shouldn't be too hard."

"Ha, ha, someone's confident. Let me just find you an application and I'll tell my boss Saïx that you're interested."

"Wait, Saïx?"

"Mm hm, the general manager. You know him?"

"Uh..um..I think I left something outside...I'll be right back!" Roxas slowly backed away out of the store and attempted to make a run for it only to run into the person he wanted to see the least. Saïx.

Tall and brooding, with long, blue spiky hair, piercing yellow eyes, and a visible X shaped scar etched deep into his forehead. Saïx played the part of local guy you _definitely_ didn't want to mess with, but his colorful work uniform and his passive position as manager of an ice cream shop, heaven on earth for kids, took away what little fear he could've radiated. Not that he ever let it stop him from being as intimidating as possible to his employees and past subordinate, Roxas.

A brief moment of surprise flickered across Saïx's face before settling back into a stone cold glare, a look Roxas was well accustomed to. He took a long inhale from his cigarette, then breathed out a low, dark cloud of smoke. "Roxas..." He began, slowly, trying to pick his words out carefully so it would hang over the boy's head. "The Organization sent out another one."

"Yeah, guess so and here I thought I'd never see you again. All the worlds out there, and you just _had_ to be in this one."

"If you're here, then the Organization must not want you around."


	2. Shadows

"And what's that supposed to mean," Roxas snapped.

"Exactly what I said. Twilight Town is an immobile world where they station members who get in the way."

"Ha, I bet that's why you're here!"

"Not at all. I'm here on a long term assignment. You on the other hand..." He turned his head away. "You must of stepped out of line."

"Ugh, you never change Saïx. Well don't think you can go bossing me around since you're not on duty anymore!"

"We'll see about that." He abruptly crumpled up his cigarette, then tossed it within the shadow cast from the building. Strangely enough, the cigarette butt bounced off of the shadow and tumbled back towards Saïx feet. "I knew it. They're here."

"Wait what? Heartless?!"

"Precisely."

As the two prepared for battle, Xion and the other employees were oblivious to the monsters lurking outside the building and went through business as usual. Xion leaned on the back counter by the drive-thru window, a clunky headset with prehistoric technology around her neck and a cup of strawberry-chocolate ice cream in her hand.

"Four hours and 15 minutes until I can leave," Xion said to herself.

Tifa approached Xion's workstation with a box of magic. She loaded the soft serve machine with blizzard magic, then turned to Xion, a mischievous smile across her face. "So when did you meet Roxas?"

"...15 minutes ago..."

"Really? Sure learned a lot about him in such a short amount of time."

Shrugging her shoulders, she took a big spoonful of ice cream to avoid any further conversation. Tifa, knowing her co-worker all too well, crossed her arms and stayed put across from her. "So why did I see you two out by the—"

*beep

*beep

"I got it!" Xion spit out, she pushed the receiver button on the headset. "Hello, welcome to Sunset Parlor, what can I get for you?" She greeted.

"Asuiuf! Cjowic!"

"Mm hm."

"ASDFDNRO! AHDHOA!"

"Ok, anything else?"

"Wsdfgihhc."

"Great! I'll have your total up at the window, thanks!"

Tifa gawked at Xion, bewildered. "You seriously understood what that guy said?"

"Nope."

"Huh, you've officially lost it."

Before she could open the drive thru window up, the glass shattered as a heartless spiraled through the jagged pieces and collided into one of the ice cream machines. While vanilla ice cream spilled out all over the floor, Tifa reached into her apron pockets and pulled out a pair of brown, leather gloves. "Don't worry," Tifa said, she grabbed onto Xion and pounded her fist into heartless as it was getting back up on its feet, the resulting impact creating a deep crater within the tiled floor.

Xion's eyes widened with shock. She'd never seen such a raw display of strength, and she certainly never expected to come from someone like Tifa. "I'll be right back." Was the only thing she said to Xion, no other words or explanation, then she punched through the glass drive thru window and jumped outside.

"Leave it to Tifa to show off like that." A voice from behind her said.

Without warning, a young black-haired girl, appeared out of thin air, emitting gray clouds of smoke on her arrival.

"Y-Yuffie, what's going on?! And why do I feel like I'm out of the loop."

"That's probably because you are. There's heartless attacking the store, while Zack is looking for the heartless repellent, I'm gonna help fend them off. I'd stay back if I were you."

"But aren't  _you_  gonna run away?!"

"Uh are you serious? I'm like the best ninja in my clan, no way I'm letting Tifa take  _all_  the credit!" She disappeared in the same clouds of smoke that brought her here and Xion was once again alone, standing in a puddle of vanilla ice cream.

Despite similar appearances, Yuffie and Xion couldn't be more different from each other. Yuffie was loud, outgoing, never afraid to speak her mind, and had an inflated ego, which came as a surprise considering her humble ninja backgrounds. Meanwhile Xion was anything but that, anything, but her.

Tonight, however, Xion was determined to become whatever she had to be to prove her worth. So Xion grabbed the nearest ice cream scoop and leapt out of the drive thru window, just like Tifa, although unlike Tifa, she hit her head on the panel and tumbled down onto the asphalt. Clumsily, Xion raised to her feet and saw the full battle playing out right before her eyes.

Roxas, her boss, and her co-workers weren't just fighting, but putting full on performances to a production she'd never be apart of.

Saïx in an act of aggression and energy she didn't even think he had the emotional range to produce was swinging a giant claymore the size of his own body, thrashing the heartless that stood in his way. Roxas bounced around the driveway, using magic against the heartless in a manner she thought was illegal.

At the other end, Tifa smashed her way through the shadows, dominating the creatures with overpowering strength while Yuffie was throwing an arsenal of ninja weapons and using mystic arts to show off more so than to fight.

And then there was her; Xion. The girl who stood there and watched like the crowds of Twilight Town locals who clustered around the ice cream parlour. It was exhilarating just to be there in a way that made her blood pump and her heart race and yet isolating in the same way she always felt. In the background, in the crowd, watching passively into a world she could only dream of.

Emitting a sharp, metallic screech on the ground, the ice cream scoop fell out of her hand and Xion began her walk of shame back inside the ice cream parlor. Before she could reach her destination, however, she was swept off the ground and into Roxas' arms.

"R-Roxas! You scared me, what're you doing?!" She yelled.

"Just thought you looked pretty awkward standing around like that."

"Wh-what! I was just getting ready to do something!"

"Right, right, before or after that heartless was about to bite your head off, or did you even notice?"

"Wait...are you serious?!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Just hold on tight, k?"

Xion clutched onto his sweatshirt and Roxas ran upside the brick wall. Besides breaking just about every physics law school droned into her head, it was still probably the least remarkable thing Roxas did all day. He set Xion down on the roof of the parlor and plopped down on the ledge, his legs dangling off the side of the building.

She sat down next to him, holding her legs tight to her chest. "Ok, I kind of knew Yuffie and Saïx were a little weird, but Tifa seemed so normal to me. Of course she has super strength or whatever."

"That's her name...Tifa...you think she saw me out there?"

"Yeah, her and the rest of Twilight Town. Ugh, I can't believe my co-workers knew about the heartless way before I did and didn't even bother to tell me! Why am I always the last to know about these things."

"Maybe 'cause it's better that way. You're a normal girl who got to live a normal life, if you knew about heartless, then nothing would ever be the same again. Now it's too late...because of me," Roxas said quietly.

"Are you kidding me? Today is literally the best day of my life, well behind the day I found my cat, and now that I know about all of this, I don't feel trapped in this world anymore. Maybe this sounds a little crazy, but I don't ever  _want_  things to be the same again." She turned to Roxas, her eyes locking onto his. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm glad I met you."

Roxas quickly pulled his hood over his head to hide his blushing face. "Sh-Shut up! You're so embarrassing!" He barked out, flustered.

Surprised at his reaction, all Xion did was smile to herself and a comfortable silence grew between them. She stared at the back of his head, wanting to say something, anything to him, but couldn't force her thoughts out of her head. ' _You're modest,'_  She would think. ' _No, you just have super low self esteem.'_ She would argue with herself.

The only thing she did say was, "—Oh hey, Roxas, Roxas, look!" And together, the two peered out from the rooftop to the street below where her other co-worker, Zack Fair, was running towards the heartless with the so-called 'heartless repellent'; a fire extinguisher with a black coat of paint and the red heartless emblem on it.

Zack inserted a small, bright orb into the compartment located on the base of the repellent and the nozzle poured out a powerful white light, bathing the heartless (and his co-workers) in an intense light that left nothing of the heartless, not even the remains of their existence.

Slinging the repellent over his shoulder, Zack flashed a cheeky smile, then bumped his chest at his co-workers. "Sorry I took so long, I had to find new holy orbs, but the hero always arrives late, doesn't he?"

"Hero?! You mean  _I_  single handedly held the monsters off while protecting everyone else! If anyone's a hero, it's me!" Yuffie argued.

"Right-right, good job Yuffie. You defeating a grand total of 3 heartless sure did save the day." Tifa sarcastically remarked.

"The only hero is the money we're about to make from all of this." Saïx interjected. "Do you not see this crowd of potential customers." He approached the newscast with a stack of coupon filers he always carried on his person. An up selling strategy he tried and failed to impose on his own employees since, in his own words, the prospect of revenue was always unexpected.

Following the battle, Sunset Parlor was as busy as a Friday night rush hour and since it was only a Thursday evening, they were severely understaffed. Just barely able to keep up with the demands coming from the influx of Twilight Town citizens who both wanted refreshing ice cream and were intrigued by the otherworldly, supernatural events that played out in the driveway of a simple ice cream shop.

The commotion only ever died down when the store went into closing time and Xion was allowed on her legally assigned break. Even then, there were still people camped outside of the store, eager for the opening tomorrow morning. Xion, exhausted, collapsed in the booth where Roxas was busy browsing the menu.

Roxas looked up from the menu. "Hey Xion."

"Hey."

"You know, it's pretty weird how people flock over to this type of stuff, fighting heartless is just another day for me."

"Those same people also have office jobs and drive their kids to soccer practice, they're not exactly your brand of demon slayer."

"Heh, you're totally right. So what do you recommend," Roxas slid the menu over in her direction. "I was thinking about trying strawberry ice cream, but what I really want is this one ice cream flavor I had a super long time ago. It was salty and sweet at the same time, I kind of forgot the name though."

"Oh—I know what you're talking about, it's sea-salt ice cream, isn't it? It's a town favorite. Come on, I'll get us some, my treat." Xion stood up from the counter, but he didn't as much as stir, annoying Xion. "Aren't you coming?"

"Can't you go by yourself?"

"Yeah I can, but it's easier if I don't have to carry two ice creams. Just come with me, I don't see what the big problem is."

"Well, ahem, I think that...er...do you think that uh..." His face was getting red, turning Xion's annoyance into intrigue. "...Tifa looks different, doesn't she?"

Xion took a moment to turn around, Tifa was still working front counter and still had the headset on. There was nothing radically different about her appearance, except that she gained a few scratch marks on her cheek and she looked noticeably more tired than usual. Xion looked back at Roxas, who was sweating now.

"Nope. Same Tifa. Wait, wait..." She smiled devilishly at Roxas. "I get it, you  _like_  her, don't you?"

"Wh-What?! That's so stupid. I don't even know what the word means!"

"Then why did you respond to me like that if you don't know what it means, genius?"

"Ok! I'll follow you!" He sprung straight up from the booth only to trip on his own feet and slam down hard on the tiled floor.

"Roxas, are you—"

"I'm fine!" Roxas snapped as he got right back up on his feet as if it were nothing. Ignoring the laughs and looks of concern from the other people in the store, he went over to the front and pressed his own munny on the counter. "Me and my friend would like two sea-salt ice creams please!" He loudly declared.

"Uh, sure, but your nose is kind of, you know, gushing out blood. Let me help." Tifa reached behind the counter and gave Roxas a handful of napkins. "I'll be back with that ice cream."

"Wow. That was humiliating," Xion said.

Roxas stood there, plugging up his bloody nose with a clump of napkins and considering death as one would in that situation. "Think the heartless can come back so they can bite my head off." He muttered.

"Calm down, so you embarrassed yourself in front of the girl you like. Weren't you literally just fighting off demons, I think that's a bit more scary than this."

"Yeah and that's easy...but did you see that look she gave me and the sound of concern in her voice..." He felt himself get excited when talking about her, the type of blood pressure rising, clammy hands excitement he'd only get when fighting an extra tough heartless. Tifa was a beautiful woman after all, with long, brown hair that fell all the way down her backside, a slim, curvy figure, and a nice rack that made the Sunset Parlor a popular spot for teenage boys like him.

"Yeah, she sounded something like that, but I think you're getting a little bit ahead of yourself. Customer-employee relations aren't really the best foundation to determine if someone likes you or not, trust me."

When he saw Tifa returned, Roxas furiously tidied himself up, fixing his windswept hair, straightening his stupid cat sweatshirt.

Tifa smiled at him. "Roxas, right? You were pretty awesome out there, I had no idea you could wield the keyblade." She tilted her head upwards, broadened her smile, and gave Roxas direct eye contact, her employee mode revving into full gear. "Here's your ice cream by the way, and here's a punch card, every fifth visit you get a $5 dollars off your purchase so make sure to come back often, ok~"

'Thank you.' Roxas wanted to say, but it came out more like some incomprehensible mumble and he quickly retreated into a booth.

Tifa chuckled to herself. "Hey Xion, I think your friend might have a change of heart about working for this place." She handed Xion a piece of paper with little bits of ice cream smudged on the corners. "I think Saïx would love to have him on the team, or at least, the Saïx equivalent of 'love'."

"We'll see about that" Xion made her way to Roxas, who was quietly eating his ice cream bar, then she just couldn't contain herself and burst out in laughter.

"What-What's so funny?" Roxas asked defensively. "Is there ice cream on my face or something?"

"No, no, it's just..." She calmed herself down. "I never would've thought Mr. Demon slayer over here with all the fancy acrobatics would get so nervous over a girl!"

Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "We all have our weaknesses, here's mine. Great in the field, not so great with girls."

"I could've told you that." She sat down. "So, what do you think about the ice cream?"

"This is it...the ice cream I had so long ago. Thanks."

"You're the one who bought it."

"And you're the one who reminded me."

Xion bit into her own ice cream, it tasted sweeter than usual now that she could share the experience with someone else. "Roxas, tomorrow I have to go to school and under no circumstances do I want you attending."

Roxas was taken back by Xion's sudden dead seriousness. "Why? What's so wrong with me going to school, not that I know what it is, but still."

"Everything's wrong with it and you'll hate it, trust me. Just stay at the apartment, Smudge practically takes care of himself and he'll let you know when he needs to eat. If you get bored, I have some video games and a TV, I'll tell you the wi-fi password too. You should really check out Dead Beat Town, it's like my favorite show ever!"

"Uh huh..." Roxas was only passively listening to Xion, the idea of school clouding his thoughts. "What do you do at school?" He abruptly asked.

"You know, boring stuff, like homework, tests, projects..." She trailed off. "We need to go home! I forgot I have a project due tomorrow!"

"Right behind you!"

When the two returned to Xion's apartment, Xion got to work on her all-world history project. In the meantime, Roxas switched between playing a few sessions of Xion's vast collection of video games, watching Xion tinker away at her project and playing with her cat until eventually falling asleep on the floor. All the while, Xion worked tediously on her assignment until its completion at the sound of the bird's calls, Twilight Town's version of the crack of dawn.

"Great," She said, sitting back in the chair. "And I still have 10 minutes to actually sleep. Note to self, don't procrastinate." Her head dropped on the kitchen table and she drifted off into a few moments of rest.

' _Xion...you forgot who you once were.'_

' _Not like it can do me any good now, unless I can finally leave this life behind.'_

' _And_ _there's your problem right there.'_

' _I don't recall asking you, of course I get an annoying voice in my dream.'_

' _Wow, way to treat your conscience like a nuisance.'_

' _Good. Maybe I can get a better one!'_

Xion woke up to the savory smell of eggs and bacon sizzling in hot grease, mingling with the sweetness of light, fluffy pancakes cooking in the pan. She raised her head to see Roxas preparing breakfast in a pastel pink apron. She rubbed her eyes, then wiped the drool off her cheek. "Is this even real?"

"I went shopping a few hours ago, heh you didn't even notice 'cause you were so focused on your project. I just figured you didn't want to eat ramen for breakfast again." He slid the bacon, eggs and pancakes onto a paper plate then drizzled the pancakes with a healthy serving of syrup. He slid the plate over to Xion while he took his share and sat right across from her at the table.

Dreamily, Xion gazed at the hot, steamy meal. She hadn't recalled the last time she had a real breakfast, let alone a home cooked one. Tears welled up her eyes, then fell down her sleep deprived face. "Th-thank you," She murmured. "I-I...I've never had this before, not like this."

Roxas gave Xion a quizzical look. "Well don't cry all over it, you have to tell me if it tastes good or not! I kind of only learned how to cook second-hand."

Without a moment's hesitation, she chowed down, eating every last morsel. When she finished, she gazed at Roxas with a wide smile on her face. "That was sooooo good! You're a lot better than you give yourself credit for." She stood up. "I'm gonna go get ready for school, make sure Smudge doesn't try to destroy my school project."

"Mm hm." His eyes settled on Xion's project, she built a small world within a cardboard box. A golden, tropical beach took up most of the space with a cluster of houses off in the corner. ' _This place looks familiar, is it supposed to be Twilight Town, no their beach doesn't have palm trees. It has to be...'_

He turned over the box and saw the words 'DESTINY ISLANDS' in fancy bubble letters, doused with yellow glitter plastered on the front. "Yeah, that's it."

"What do you think?" Xion asked, walking back into the kitchen as she brushed her teeth. "I've only seen pictures, but I bet the real place must be beautiful."

"It is, but you put in way too many palm trees, there's only like a couple here and this tree is supposed to be lopsided because that's where the paopu fruit grows oh and—"

"I get it, I get it. Thanks for the geography lesson, I hear enough of that at school already. Just remember—"

"Yeah, yeah 'under no circumstances do I want you attending'." Roxas mocked. "I got it memorized."

"Good to hear it." She slung her backpack on her shoulders. "I have to catch the tram unfortunately, but maybe next check I can  _finally_  get another bike. See ya later, Roxas!"

Xion left the apartment complex, then walked to the tram station where she boarded the infamously slow vehicle. Most students avoided the tram like the plague, so she shared her ride with a bunch of old people and a few of the "weird" kids. Nearly an hour later with five minutes left to spare, Xion arrived at school and ran to her homeroom class.

Today, homeroom was livelier than usual, briefly peaking Xion's curiously until she quickly realized the source of gossip of course had to be about the heartless fight last night. Students were showing each other videos on their phones, recounting what they saw that night or what they were doing when it happened (usually nothing). Even Marluxia seemed vaguely interested, although that was the same facial expression he always wore.

Xion quietly took her seat, opened her notes, and pretended like she wasn't there. Not five minutes later, someone behind her bumped her shoulder, she turned around to see Olette excitedly grinning and waving her phone at her. Olette was another school friend, typical nice, bubbly girl who always found time to talk to Xion. "Did you hear about what happened last night at the Sunset Parlor?" She asked.

Knowing where she was going with this, Xion shook her head. "I have no idea what you're talking about. What happened?"

"Oh come on, you don't know? Don't you work there?"

"I wasn't working last night. I was at home working on my history project, you wouldn't believe how long it took me!" ' _Good thing I'm a great liar.'_

"Really? Then I gotta show you the video, I was finishing on my history project too when Hayner suddenly sent me this; look," A sloppy recording from someone way too excited to be there started playing, the footage jumped around between Roxas, her boss and co-workers fighting heartless with Xion's head in the background. There was a bunch of people screaming and yelling and pointing, general chaos, though she couldn't blame them. She was internally screaming and figuratively wetting her pants when they started fighting the monsters, it was like being an extra in one of those superhero summer blockbusters.

"It was on the news too." She pulled out a separate video of a news reporter holding a microphone to Saïx with Yuffie and Zack fighting for attention beside him.

["Mr. Saïx, sir, we are amazed at your fighting capabilities. Who knew an ice cream store manager had such power!"]

["I am quite powerful, possibly the most powerful General Manager in the district."]

"Wow, that is so cool, wish I could've been there," Xion said.

"Yeah, your place is gonna get really busy from now on."

"Great..."

"Oh-hey, but that guy though, the blonde one with the big key. Isn't he cute? He looks like our age too~"

"He is a little attractive when you squint your eyes, but I'd never go for him."

"Have you seen him around? It almost sounds like you two have already met before."

"What? No-no, I've never seen him before, ever, except in that video. That's the first time I've ever seen him."

"Riiiiight."

*ring-ring

"That sounds like the bell, better get going. Later Olette!"

"Bye Xion..."

Xion went from class to class, avoiding everyone's gaze and enduring the same tired conversation. It's not that she didn't want to speak up and show off to her classmates about the superhuman boy she met yesterday, but at the same time, she was never comfortable with having the spotlight on her. Just the idea of being one of the most talked about person in school gave her a sick feeling in her stomach, a feeling she was getting right now when she entered into Ms. Larxene's class and she realized she forgot her project at home.

 _'Crap, crap, crap!'_  She rummaged in her backpack and found nothing but notebook and folders.  _'Well there's still hope if a heartless comes attacking our school, then maybe Ms. Larxene will get her head bitten off.'_

While Xion was having another miniature breakdown, Larxene was bored out of her mind, lounging in her chair and texting on her phone. Like the other teachers, her school uniform consisted of mostly black, a black button up shirt, black kitty heels, and a single white scarf around her neck. She had a reputation among students of her absolutely ruthless, downright sadistic personality which she took great pride in upholding.

Because of the fear she struck into the hearts of students and even a few staff members, she ironically was the best teacher in the entire school, possibly the entire district. Each student came in on time, did their work diligently and studied for tests like their life depended on it.

When the class bell rang, it was Larxene's cue to start teaching, she turned on her computer and prowled to the front of the class. "What're you all doing looking at me like that for?!" She snapped. "Get your projects out right now."

Xion broke out into a cold sweat, her face turning as pale as a ghost. She was sure today would be her premature death, but like some call from the heavens above, or perhaps, from the depths of hell below, the door swung open and Roxas walked in with a plastic shopping bag in his hand.

Roxas took out Xion's school project and set in on her desk, then sat down right next to her. The students chattered away, giddy from the arrival of Roxas, or as they called him; the kid from the video who did all the fight-y stuff with his big ass key.

Larxene approached Roxas. "Nice of you to show up. Of course it's my luck I'd have a brat like you in my class."

"Yeah well not like I asked for it." He shot back. "Gonna shoot lightning bolts at me?"

"I'm considering it after school ends."

"Looking forward to it."

Larxene rolled her eyes, then returned to her desk to search for today's lesson on her computer. With her distracted, Xion faced Roxas, whispering the words 'thank you' to him. Nodding, Roxas leaned in close to her. "Sorry I totally disobeyed your orders, but I thought you'd need your project and when I brought it to school, the headmaster forced me to attend because I told him I didn't actually go to any school. This school thing isn't so bad though, wish I didn't already know half my teachers and that this uniform wasn't so tight, but it's pretty nice how everyone keeps on talking to me and wanting to be my friend."

"Gee, I wonder why."

"And, and, get this, a lot really cute girls think I'm cool!"

"Right Mr. popular, just don't let this whole thing go to your head."

"—Since you two seem to know so, so much about this class, that you don't feel the need to listen, then tell me the name of the Sultan in Agrabah," Larxene said sharply.

Roxas and Xion exchanged nervous glances. Xion gave Roxas a I-thought-you-knew-about-this-stuff look and Roxas returned it with an I'm-not-a-genius look. They both collectively sighed while Larxene rolled her eyes.

"Roxas, I don't expect someone dense like you to know, but Xion, that was on your test literally last unit dum-dum. Obviously that means I didn't teach the subject well enough, is that correct?"

"No-no, of course not Ms. Larxene!"

"So why don't you  _all_  prove me wrong and take out a sheet of paper. We're taking a pop quiz over Agrabah!"

The class groaned and shot daggers in Roxas and Xion's direction, Xion slumped in her seat, her entire face flushing a bright red. Larxene smirked, grabbing a copy of last unit's test off her desk.

' _Thank god this is my last hour.'_ Xion thought.

After school ended, Xion walked down the afternoon streets, holding her failed pop quiz in one hand and aggressively eating a soft bread roll in the other. Roxas, who was keeping his distance, ran up to her side with an apologetic look on his face. "Hey, I'd love to sulk with you and everything, but some of the new friends I made invited me to the skate park. You're welcome to join, otherwise I'll catch you later!"

"Some friend you are!" She crumpled up her pop quiz and threw the ball of paper at his head as he was walking away which he simply shrugged off. Defeated, Xion retrieved the fallen pop quiz and threw it away in a proper trash can.

Finally returning to her apartment after a long day, Xion fell on her bed. She intrinsically put on Dead Beat Town to lighten her mood, as she always did whenever she was having a bad day and finished her homework while passively watching a few episodes.

Halfway through episode 3 of season 1, Xion turned off the TV, not feeling the radical change in her mood she was hoping for. Actually she felt worse, like she was one of the deadbeat nobodies on the TV show, although the show was a jukebox musical about the story of two star crossed lovers in rival gangs and the title was merely a play on words. She at least felt like one of the background characters who just kind of stood around to give the illusion of a populated town.

"Roxas is still out with his friends, probably using magic with his other friends," Xion said to Smudge who was sleeping on the end of her bed. "I mean, I'd have a lot of friends too, if I wasn't so scared about..." She shook her head, then walked a few steps to reach the kitchen.

She searched the cabinet for her cat's favorite fish and chips flavored cat food and dumped it over the stale cat kibble Smudge refused to eat to make it more enticing. "I think I'll just go out for a walk to clear my head, be back in an hour."


	3. The Girl in the Mansion

With a click of the lock and a trip downstairs, Xion was back in the Twilight Town streets. Though she wasn't interested in seeing the same shops and buildings she always saw whenever she took a walk and decided instead to take a trip into the dense forest that surrounded the old, abandoned mansion. Usually not one of her favorite places to be, but it beat getting seen walking alone by one of her classmates, or worse yet, Roxas.

The forest was a peculiar place, where the light of twilight clawed through the crevices between the flat oak tree leaves to shine down on the forest floor. A single, worn path led to the mansion, it was littered with used magic orbs and food wrappers, sometimes, Xion would even find discarded clothes near the bushes for some reason. Straying off the beaten path would lead into knee-high, thick patches of dark green grass and the occasional mushroom that poked out between the blades of grass.

The thick vegetation was home to hundreds of animal and bug species Xion couldn't help but be fascinated by. She recalled back in her earlier years when times were simpler, all she would do was sit in the forest and investigate the life brimming on the ground beneath her feet. Rumors of ghosts and monsters were what kept her away after all these years and now, she was back.

According to urban legend, the mayor of Twilight Town tried multiple times to mow the law, but each time a team of mowers attempted to tackle the outgrowth, they would mysteriously disappear. Personally, Xion believed the mayor was just too busy blowing the budget on struggle games and alcohol to bother.

Xion approached a lone tree, then laid her back against the rough bark. Her hand pressed against the ground, the soft grass wriggling between the crevices of her fingers. _'I forgot how quiet it is when you're alone, guess Roxas wouldn't understand since he has all his stupid friends.'_ She raised her hand and found a fistful of grass sitting in her palm. ' _Not me though.'_

After a few moments passed,she heard the sound of footsteps echoing from the clearing and quickly hid behind the tree. _'Please don't be people I know!'_

Just her luck, Roxas along with a few of the "cute" boys (according to the other girls) from her school walked past. They were holding their own personalized skateboards and talking about stereotypical things teenage boys talked about.

"And this is the creepy forest, we hang out here like all the time. Can't believe you never been here before," One of the boys said. "You hear the rumors about this place, when it's really late out, you can see a girl in the window sometimes."

"That stuff is so not true man, it's just a bunch of ghost stories people make up to sound cool." Another said. "But I got cool stuff that's real and not lame ghost stories."

"Yeah, like what?" Roxas asked.

"Like third tier magic. Since like, no one goes here, it's the best place to use magic."

"'Use magic''?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's technically illegal since you're only supposed to use magic for boring stuff, but that's why it's so fun!" He pulled out a box package labeled 'THUNDAGA—For Industrial Use Only'. "My brother works at a power plant and he was able to get me a few, check this out!"

The boy threw the yellow orb on the ground and it produced a ferocious, powerful flash of lightning that charred the ground black. His friends chuckled with amusement meanwhile Roxas got his classic smirk on his face. "That's nothing compared to actual magic, I'll show you what a real Thundaga can do!"

While her classmates were distracted with Roxas' display of magic, Xion took the opportunity to head in the direction of the creepy mansion in order to distance herself from them, she gave a passing glance to the boys and she went inside.  _'Boys can be so stupid sometimes, then again, here I am in this haunted house.'_

The mansion emitted a sharp, eerie moan as she closed the giant, wooden doors. Outside was pretty ghastly, but the inside was even worse. Splintered plywood boards lined the floor and shards of glass gathered below the tall window panes where the light of twilight shone through. The infrastructure was still relatively intact, but she could tell no one had stepped foot inside the old manor except for the very brave or the very stupid, and Xion was firmly in the latter category.

 _'I'm here now, let's see about this urban legend.'_  Xion made her way up the creaky steps, pushing away the cobwebs that stood in her path, then traversed down the second floor. So far, every room she peeked inside was empty and covered in a thin film of dust. She approached the very last room on the second floor, and much to her surprise, the room was completely white.

Her curiosity pulled her inside the white room, such a jarring contrast from the warm browns and oranges she was so used to seeing. However, the most interesting thing had to be the dozens of pictures taped on the wall and littering the floor, providing the only color in the blank room.

"Do you like them?"

"Aaaaah- oh my god, you scared me!" Xion exclaimed, clutching her chest. "Wh-who are you?"

"Naminé, what about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes, I do believe you owe me that much. Barging in here and everything, have you ever heard of knocking?"

"Oh did I intrude? I'm so sorry for bothering you, my name is Xion."

She laughed. "Relax, it's not a big deal. Let me guess, did someone dare you to come inside? See if there really is a girl in the old mansion?"

"No, I came in myself. I was...bored."

She laughed again. "I'd love to know what you do when you're not bored!"

"Well, I'd like to know why you're here. Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"No, should I?"

"Yeah, you have parents, don't you? They're probably worried about you."

"I think you have to actually have parents for them to be worried."

"Sorry...I guess you're alone too."

"God, I wish, but unfortunately I'm always being hunted down. I hope you can keep our meeting a secret."

"Don't worry about it, I'm good at keeping secrets!"

"Maybe, but you're a terrible liar. You should work on keeping a straight face."

"You could tell I was lying?"  
  
"Easily, you're here because of those boys, aren't you? You didn't want to be seen all by yourself."

"How did you guess?"

"I'm pretty good with reading people, and I've seen you around this mansion for a long time now. I've always wanted to meet you, but going out in the open is too dangerous. So I guess you could say today is my lucky day." At the spur of the moment, Naminé took Xion's hands and gave them a tight squeeze. "I'm super glad me and you finally met!"

"Me too..."She broke off from her grasp, then drew her attention to the pictures on the wall. "So all you do here in this room is draw?"

"Pretty much, it's my one true passion in this world."

"I wish I could draw like you could, or actually, do anything really good."

"Then why don't you try it out, drawing I mean. I'd love to see what you can do."

"...If you say so."

Naminé led Xion to the long table in the center of the room, practically every inch of the table was covered in unfinished drawings that—as Naminé put it, 'didn't get the memory quite right'. Naminé pulled out one of the white, blocky chairs near her end of the table and welcomed Xion to sit down.

She grabbed a few of her mess-ups, then turned it over to the blank side. "I've only ever seen my own dusks draw, so I'm excited to see a real person try it for once. Trust me, whatever you do will be  _at least_  be ten times better!"

"That's kind of a lot of pressure, so what should I draw?"

"Good question. You should start with something easy—like me! And after you draw me, I'll draw you, fair?"

"Yeah, just don't look or I'll get really nervous."

Naminé nodded, closing her eyes. Xion picked up one of the pencils from the table and started drawing. It was only when Xion got a chance to draw her did she really see who she was; a thin, petite girl, who wore a short, white dress with matching white sandals. Her complexion was very pale, almost sickly looking, a trait that carried over to her platinum blonde hair that was long enough to be swooped past her shoulder, but it barely reached her back.

In a way, she embodied the white room itself, the playful innocence, the blank slate, the mystery. Naminé was the white room and the white room was her—unfortunately Xion couldn't communicate any of her thoughts into an artistic expression and the end product of her drawing looked like someone trying way too hard to avoid the fact that they were bad at drawing.

"Done." Xion muttered. "Sorry, it's not...good."

Naminé took the drawing without as much as a word, her still face soon widening into a beaming smile. "Are you kidding me? This is great Xion! You even gave me a big chest, I'm so keeping this."

Xion's face reddened. "Wha- I didn't mean to draw you like that...ugh, see what I mean?"

"Ok so maybe you're not great with realistic proportions, but what makes it so good is the effort you put into it. I can tell you tried, that's what makes it special to me." Naminé grabbed a paper herself. "I promised I'd draw you too."

"Good ahead, I won't look either." Xion closed her eyes, then not a minute later Naminé sung the word 'done' and she was treated to Namine's own interpretation of her. As she expected, it was stunning. A near perfect drawing, down to minute details, like how one of her eyebrows was shorter than the other and the faded scar on her left cheek from a biking incident, the problem was what Naminé added.

"I was just returning the favor," Naminé supplied when she noticed Xion's face twisting into an awkward expression. "Make sure to show it to all you friends so they get super jealous, you can even pretend you drew it!"

"Uhh, I don't think I want to take the credit from you, but seriously, this is amazing Naminé. Thank you so much."

"Don't mention it..." Naminé abruptly stood up, shaking the table in the process. "Sorry, but I have to leave, I can feel another presence."

"That's ok, I won't let today be our last, I'll come back whenever I can. Maybe you can teach me how to actually draw next time."

"I'd love to, for sure. Just so you know, I wouldn't let anyone else come into this mansion again. My dusks will eat them alive, but I made a special exception for you~"

"Oh uh...thanks." She said quietly, not sure whether to feel flattered or terrified by the strange girl.

Naminé created a dark portal beside the table and Xion watched, mesmerized, as the girl in the white dress merged with the darkness that at some point brought her to the white room, though her presence could never be separated from it.

' _If she can do that weird darkness thing, then I guess she's like Roxas. In fact, he's probably the presence she felt, it would be my luck.'_ Xion ran out of the room and sure enough Roxas was there, protecting his classmates from disfigured white creatures, which she assumed were the dusks Naminé mentioned. Unlike the heartless, the dusks emitted no such dark energy, no proof of existence at all, it was as if they didn't exist.

A state Xion wish she could be in so the boys wouldn't notice her.

Xion clutched the railing, racking her brain of ways to escape unseen other than to just wait it out with the rats and spiders in the corner who were beginning to become impatient. Kicking away the rats nibbling at her heels, she crept down the hallway, careful not to stir the sounds of the old manor.

"Ok." She crouched down by the banister. "Now I just have to wait."

"Yo dude, you see that girl up there, I think it's the girl from the mansion, bro!"

"Yeah, yeah, she's on the second floor!"

 _'Never mind about waiting, I'll just have to hide somewhere.'_ She slipped into the room behind her.

After defeating the final dusk, Roxas turned around. "—What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh huh, she's gone, let's go check upstairs to see if she's there! Maybe she's hot..."

Roxas held out his arm. "Wait up, there could be more monsters up there, I'll go clear them out first." He walked up the stairs, dragging his keyblade along the floorboards. He checked each room for any sign of dusks, then came upon the library. "Xion...what are you doing here?"

"You know, I was here, hanging out with..." She stopped herself. "With me, only me."

He approached her. "Yeah, I can tell....and hey uh..another thing, I'm sorry I left you alone like that. It made me feel...bad."

"You don't have to be, I guess I was just being a little selfish to you earlier. I think it's because maybe..." She went quiet, averting her gaze away from Roxas as embarrassment took its toll.

"C'mon? You can't leave me hanging like that!"

"Nooo! I don't wanna say it anymore, you'll think I'm weird or something!"

"I won't—I won't, unless it's like really weird, but even if it is, I think between the two of us, I'm still gonna out-weird you any day."

"Fine, just don't say anything." She breathed out a long sigh. "...I don't really talk to anyone else, you know more about me than anyone in the entire school, this entire world. I know we haven't known each other very long, and it's not like we can trust each other with our lives or anything—not yet, but Roxas..."

Xion shifted uncomfortably in her seat, a soft blush creeping up her cheeks. "You're my first real friend...that's all I really wanted to say."

"Well you're only my second, so I guess we're both pretty much on the same boat." He smiled at her. "I know, me and you should do something, just the two of us, no stupid boys with us either."

Xion let out a small chuckle. "And what would that be?"

"Maybe like get some ice cream at your place."

"That sounds great, I just hope you're not going there to see a certain someone."

"No-no, why would you say that? I promise we'll be in and out."

"Right, I'll hold you to that."

"I won't let you down, so you ready now? Come on!"

"Ok, I'm coming!" When she walked towards him, Naminé's drawing slipped out from her school blazer pocket and it landed right beside Roxas' feet.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like hours, even though it only lasted a few seconds at most. Roxas pressed his hand on the door while Xion drowned in the embarrassment that washed over her body. The humiliation affecting every limb and organ stiffening her movements, she mechanically picked up the drawing, then tucked it away in her pocket.

"Nice picture," Roxas finally said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clear up any confusion, in this world, magic is like a household item, that's how commercialized it is. Using magic for anything other than its intended purposes, especially as a weapon is completely illegal because it's still hella dangerous
> 
> And another thing, the real in game twilight town is pretty small, so I've expanded the world a great deal so it feels like a real actual town. While there's probably not a skatepark or anything in the real twilight town, in MY twilight town, anything goes.


	4. Weekend Blues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long hiatus, I was tied up with another fic, but now I'm back with new ideas!

"Xion."

"Xion!"

"Xioooooon!"

"Ugh! Shut up Roxas, I'm trying to sleep!" Still half asleep, Xion reached for the nearest object she could find and threw it at Roxas to keep him away.

It wasn't soon after, an ear piercing cat screech followed by a chorus of profanities forced Xion awake. She rubbed her eyes, then saw Roxas with new scratches on his face, just after the old ones started to heal up, as well as her cat hissing and spitting under the table.

"Oh..."

Fifty apologizes later, Xion was applying thick layers of cura ointment on Roxas' scratches over a bowl of oatmeal on the kitchen table. "Great way to start the morning," She said quietly.

"I was thinking the same thing." He attempted to move his spoon in the chunky oatmeal that had the same viscosity as wet cement only for it to submerge under the porridge like quicksand. "I can see why you don't cook."

"Ha ha, yeah, this is actually the best it's turned out so far."

_'Is she serious?!'_  "-By the way, don't you have to go to school or something? That's why I was trying to wake you up."

"No, it's the weekend, we don't have to go to school on Saturday or Sunday."

"Whoa, that sounds awesome. What're you gonna do with your day off?"

"Sleep some more, then go to work."

"Sounds great..." He was trying not to sound disappointed, but Xion could pick up on his discontent just from looking into his eyes.

"Roxas," She drew his name out in that motherly type of way she only reserved for her cat. "Last night was pretty fun hanging out with you and all, but I  _have_  to pay rent somehow."

"So all you need is some munny? I have tons of it since I've been defeating heartless."

"I'm sorry— what? That sounds like something from an rpg."

"Looks at this!" He dropped a pouch of munny from his pocket onto the kitchen table. Based on the loud, shifting metallic sounds Xion heard as it settled on the table, she could tell it was a lot, at least a couple thousand converted into paper currency.

"Aw that's really sweet, but I'd feel super bad about taking munny from you. Especially since I have a job and everything."

Roxas shrugged. "I don't really need it since I got everything I need right here, but I get it, you got too much pride to..." He drifted off as Xion was pretty much tuning him out, choosing instead to drool over the pouch of munny, captivated by its contents. His face morphed into an expression halfway between disappointment at Xion's lack of self restraint and the other amusement that she was practically kicking herself over not taking the munny from the word go.

Of course he couldn't pass up this golden opportunity to torment her, so he wrapped his hand over the pouch, then stood up from the table. "Well, while you're busy sleeping. Guess I'll blow all this munny on stupid stuff."

Xion shot straight up from the table. "I'll be ready in 20 minutes!"

She disappeared into her closet, then trudged into the bathroom with a pile of clothes. Roxas was stuck with his tacky, cat sweatshirt and pulled it over his undershirt. ' _I hope Xion doesn't take too long, although, the sun doesn't set so I guess we don't have to worry about it getting late.'_

Twenty minutes later as promised, Xion emerged from the bathroom, a big smile on her face. She wore a black, buttoned collared shirt and a white folded skirt. Over her shoulders was a designer moogle purse she'd been dying to show off ever since she bought it and to top it off, a woven sun hat with a wide brim.

"Wow, you look great, makes me look bad in comparison though, huh."

"That's why we're going shopping for  _you._ " Her apartment keys swung around her finger.

"Yeah...wait, what?!"

"You'll feel better, trust me. Girls might even notice you more, they'll be like 'oh look at Roxas, he's sooo well dressed!'" She mocked.

"You're getting way too into this, but as long as it gets you outside for once."

On their way down the apartment steps, Xion spotted a strange creature staring right back at her on the street. "What is that?"

"What're you looking at?"

"I think it's an animal." Xion rushed down the steps and got a better look at the creature. "Aw, it's a little puppy!" By all means, it wasn't exactly the cutest dog she'd ever seen, in fact it was very strange looking compared to a typical mutt. The dog was blocky and had a disproportionately large jaw that wouldn't shut so it seeped out buckets of sticky drool, and the eyes, its eyes pierced deep into her soul.

Not that it stopped her from completely gushing over the dog, as far as Xion was concerned, the toothy grin it made when she scratched behind its curly ears, instantly made her fall in love. Unfortunately, by the time Roxas caught up to Xion, the dog merged back into the shadows, like it was never there.

' _That was weird. You never really see stray dogs around here.'_

"Damn, didn't know you could run that fast if you wanted to."

"I'd never miss out on a cute puppy! You should've seen it, too bad you scared it away."

"Guess that makes me pretty intimidating, huh?"

"Get over yourself, Roxas." She went over to his side. "There's some clothing stores in the shopping district. If you don't see anything you like, we could go to Sunset Terrace too, but it's kind of a tourist trap so you'll end up wasting your munny on useless stuff."

"Let me guess, you speak from experience?"

She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Guilty as charged. I'm super irresponsible with munny, like last week I bought a bottle of water that supposedly came straight from Atlantica—totally just repackaged tap water!"

"Yeah, yeah, I can see you doing stuff like that. I can get you the real deal, probably wouldn't taste good though."

"Really?" She looked away from Roxas for a moment, contemplative. "Why don't you just go there instead of stay here in this small world. If I were you, I'd leave this place in a heartbeat and never return."

"You don't like this world at all, do you?"

"I guess, but mostly, I just don't like my life." Xion gazed at Roxas. "I mean, look at you, you go to so many worlds and have all these cool superpowers. Meanwhile I'm a normal girl who works a minimum wage job who can't even pass a stupid chemistry test. I wish I was..." She wouldn't finish her sentence, embarrassed she even had the thought.

Roxas continued on, picking up where she left off. "Well, I've always wanted a life like yours, where I can live freely and not as someone's servant. Now that I finally have it, staying here with you, I don't really wanna leave. I'm not sure how long I can stay before the Organization hunts me down, but I wanna see where this takes me."

"The Organization, that's who you work for, isn't it?" ' _I wonder if Naminé is apart of it too, she's mysterious just like Roxas. Mysterious, that's the word to describe him.'_ She shook her head. "It's like... the more you tell me about yourself, the less I know you."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing really...oh-" Xion was so engrossed in their conversation, it hadn't dawned upon her until now that they were already in the middle of the shopping district. Suddenly, her mind was swept along with all the shops and stores clustered around the small area. Suddenly, she could only think about the munny burning a hole in her pocket and how Roxas was gonna look like a way-too-cool-to-be-there boy off those fashion magazines when they were done.

Grabbing Roxas by the hand, she pulled him to the nearest clothing store. It happened to be one of those dim-lighted type places where they only sold vintage clothes and the background store music was always from some obscure grunge rock band Xion never heard of. "I think you'll like the selection here," She began. "I'm not really into this type of stuff, but this store fits your style."

"Yooo, welcome to Turtle's Paradise, can I help you with anything?" One of the workers at the counter called out.

' _Turtle's Paradise is such a stupid name.'_ Roxas thought. "Nah, we're just looking around right now!"

"Alright, let me know if you need anything!"

"I do kind of like this place," Roxas said after a while.

"That's good, I'm gonna look around the store. Be right back~"

Xion disappeared into the clothing racks, brushing past torn jeans bleached to hell and back and gross looking band t-shirts. She ended up at the rear of the store where practically every inch of the wall was covered in vinyl records. ' _Maybe I'll pick one up when I get a record player, guess that'll have to come after my bike.'_ Still, Xion held a record in her hand, getting lost in the kaleidoscopic cover art that seemed to move in suspended animation. ' _I actually know this one, it's Utada Hikaru, she's...'_

"Bark, bark!"

"Huh? What's..."

"Bark, bark!" Nibbling at her feet, was the same strange dog from earlier. She instantly regretted wearing open-toed shoes, but was pleased to see it again.

"It's you again, how'd you get in here fella?"

"Woof-woof-woof!"

The dog stopped panting for a moment, then retreated into the shadow cast by the corner of the room. "That's weird," Xion muttered, she grasped into the shadow and was surprised to see her arm go straight through. ' _Is this outside? Why is there no light.'_

Her feet shuffled forward, inching its way into the shadow. Before she knew it, she was outside of the store entirely. ' _How did I get out here?'_ The dog padded up to her, its long tongue dragging on the street. "Did you do this? That's pretty cool. I know I should be freaking out right now, but I've basically accepted my normal life is over."

"Woof, woof!"

She brushed its wiry fur. "Are you lost? Doesn't seem like you have an owner. I wouldn't mind keeping you for-" The dog started circling around Xion's legs. "What's up? Is something wrong."

Suddenly excited, it ran ahead of Xion, beckoning her to follow and she did, thinking it wouldn't take long and that Roxas would be shopping for a while—she was wrong on both accounts.

Somehow, the two of them ended up at the sandlot; a wide, empty space  _officially_  used for struggle games, but unofficially had the reputation for being Seifer's stomping grounds. As such, Xion tried to avoid the sandlot whenever possible, but there she was, and there Seifer's gang was. Luckily, they were too preoccupied messing with fire magic to notice her awkwardly walk in, however the dog had no such tact and began barking its head off at the sign of other people.

"Wh-What're you doing? Be quiet or they'll come over here!" Xion shrieked, but the damage was done and they were already cranking their heads around to locate the intruder.

"Shut your dog up!" Seifer barked out.

When he saw it was Xion, he decided to approach her with his hands in his pocket and a slouched posture to maximize his bad boy look, and his friends weren't too far behind. "I know you. You're the quiet girl, you work at that ice cream shop, right?"

"Seifer loves that place, y'know!" Rai boasted.

"Shut up! I don't know what you're talking about!" He turned back to Xion. "Like I was saying, never thought I'd see a shut in like you here."

"Yeah, me neither." She mumbled under her breath. "I-I'm just passing by because I'm following this dog."  _'What am I saying? That sounds so stupid.'_

"Yeah well your dumb dog is pissing me off!"

Rai started chuckling out of nowhere. "Heh heh, yo Seifer, looks like you're the only one who's pissed, y'know!"

"Look down," Fuu said.

"Huh?" Seifer looked down and realized the dog was totally using his leg as a fire hydrant. He tried to kick it in retaliation, but his leg went straight through the black mass like it had the consistency of nothingness.

Seifer snapped his leg back, then stumbled backwards. "Th-The hell type of dog is that?!"

"Uh...um…" Xion was wracking her brain for any possible solution, other than to fake a concussion, to get out of her situation, but she was drawing blanks. However, Seifer and his gang took the initiative as they ran away from the sandlot screaming.

' _I know they wouldn't leave so easily. Something must of scared them.'_  After working up the nerve to turn around and face the unknown, Xion found herself surrounded by several heartless. ' _Just my luck.'_ She impulsively gathered the dog into her arms first,  _then_  ran away in pure, unbridled terror.

Maybe Xion could've gotten away from them too, but there was something about wearing 3 inch heels that made her prone to falling and getting well acquainted with the ground. Regardless, Xion insisted on protecting a dog she barely knew by huddling over it and shielding it from the impending darkness. "You'll be safe with me, okay?"

The dog wouldn't muster up as much as a whimper and choose instead to stare at Xion with its beady yellow eyes and Xion stared back, just like when they met for the first time. At that moment, Xion stumbled upon an epiphany, realizing the dog she was protecting was no different than the demons that surrounded her. The dog backed away from her, seemingly coming up with its own conclusion as it chose to growl at the heartless.

' _I don't understand. Why are you protecting me?'_

"Xion!"

His voice snapped Xion out of her daze, bringing her back to the reality where the heartless were quickly defeated and returned to their original form as hearts.

"Xion, you okay?" Roxas asked.

"I'm fine, just some scraped knees. You look good though, your outfit I mean, it suits you."

"You think so?" He rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks, I wanted to go for...wait a second, don't try to change the subject. It's not cool to ditch people like that, Xion!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't think I would be gone for so long. We didn't get a chance to hang out for that long."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere, come on! I got even more munny from those heartless."

' _The heartless?'_  Xion thought. ' _No that sounds wrong.'_  They were all the same under the keyblade's judgement, but her heart came to its own conclusion. "...I think I'll name him Fenrir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Xion and Roxas are both wearing their kh3 outfits

**Author's Note:**

> So this story has a different take on the kingdom hearts story, but the overall message and themes remain the same. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and thanks for reading :)


End file.
